1. Field of the Invention
My present invention relates to garment handling methods and apparatus, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for binding together multiplicities of hanger-mounted garments during the carrying thereof from one garment storage bar to another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term "prior art" as used herein or in any statement made by or on behalf of applicant means only that any document or thing referred to as prior art bears, directly or inferentially, a date which is earlier than the effective filing date hereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,067, granted to Rodney L. Wieder, et al., on Aug. 30, 1977, discloses APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HANDLING GARMENT HANGERS. The Wieder, et al apparatus includes an elongated, planar scooping member, a handle, and a pair of struts, each strut joining one end of the scooping member to a corresponding end of the handle. The struts are so constructed and arranged as to maintain the plane of the scooping member at an angle of approximately 45.degree. to a plane containing the axis of the handle and the axis of the scooping member. To remove garment hangers from a garment storage bar by means of the Wieder et al apparatus, the handle of the apparatus is positioned above the garment storage bar so that the upper edge of the scooping member is engaged with the free ends of the hanger hooks. The apparatus is then raised so that the hanger hooks become engaged with and solely supported by the scooping member, whereafter by raising the handle further the scooping member, bearing the garment hangers and the garments disposed thereon can be passed over the top of the garment storage bar, and the hangers thus freed from the garment storage bar while supported by the scooping member.
Thus, it will be seen that the user of the apparatus of Wieder et al must maintain the handle thereof well above the garment storage bar, and must raise the handle even higher in order to cause the scooping member to clear the garment storage bar. The effort involved in thus reaching well above the garment storage bar and thrusting the apparatus upward therefrom while bearing a load of hanger-mounted garments is clearly not within the ability of many potential users, such as female store clerks of short stature, and can produce back strain and other physical problems in users whose ability to operate the Wieder et al apparatus is marginal.
Further, it is apparent that the apparatus of Wieder et al must be maintained with its handle horizontal, essentially mandating two-hand operation. This necessity for two-hand operation, however, makes it difficult for the user of the Wieder et al apparatus to maximize the load carried thereby by gathering together the hooks of a maximum number of adjacent hangers on the garment storage bar from which those hangers are to be removed.
Yet further, no means is provided for retaining hanger hooks on the scooping member of the apparatus of Wieder et al, and thus the handle of the Wieder et al apparatus must be kept substantially horizontal during the entire movement from the garment storage bar of origin to the garment storage bar of destination, the user at all times maintaining the handle high enough so that the longest garment clears the floor, and at no time resting the joined garments on a table or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,516, granted to Daniel G. Usner on Dec. 10, 1985, discloses a MULTIPLE GARMENT HANGER TRANSFER DEVICE. The device of Usner is adaptable for suspending a number of hanger-hung garments for vertical rope-sling loading, and is adaptable for skimming, in one continuous motion, a multiplicity of garment hangers from either a garment trolley bar or a garment storage bar, and clamping them together for transfer to said rope-sling. The device of Usner includes a longitudinally extending outer fixed jaw and a transversely movable, longitudinally extending inner jaw. The device of Usner includes a suspending hook whereby the device, and the hangers of garments supported thereby can be suspended from a rope-sling.
In the operation of the Usner device the jaws are manually parted, passed around the shanks of a plurality of hanger hooks, and the inner jaw released to clamp the hanger hook shanks between the jaws.
Thus, it will be seen that in the operation of the Usner device, while removing hanger hooks from their associated garment storage bar, the device must be moved upward while the hanger hook shanks are clampingly engaged between the jaws. Thus, in order to hang a plurality of hangers and the garments mounted thereon by means of the hook incorporated in the device the jaws must be repositioned from the shanks of the hooks to the upper parts of the hooks, all of which requires care and effort on the part of the user.
Yet further, the rigid, elongated faces of the jaws of the Usner device require that all of the hanger hooks be substantially alike, if the required frictional clamping engagement with the hanger hook shanks is to be maintained.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,473 issued to Warren T. George on Dec. 22, 1964, discloses a PORTABLE RACK for use in laundries, dry cleaning, clothing and other establishments for carrying numbers of hanger-mounted garments from place to place. The George device comprises a short garment storage bar which can be suspended by means of two hooks from an existing fixed garment storage bar, the short garment storage bar being provided at each end with a plate which is affixed to the short garment storage bar and perpendicular thereto. George further provides a handle upon which is mounted a clip adapted to receive and firmly engage any such plate.
The utilization of the invention of George, however, requires the purchase of a large number of such short garment storage bars, and thus is not well suited to domestic clothes storage use.
Further, the use of the George invention requires that there be considerable access room at at least one end of a short garment storage bar which is to be taken from the associated fixed conventional garment storage bar, which may in many cases involve considerable shifting of the short garment storage bars of the invention along the conventional storage bar, or the wastage of considerable lengths of the associated conventional fixed garment storage bars in order to leave room for end-access to the short garment storage bars of the invention.
Yet further, the use of the George device requires that the associated conventional fixed garment storage bars be elevated, or that additional clearance be required therebelow.
Additionally, the mode of grasping the handle of the George device, and inserting the user's forearm into the associated forearm yoke, produce a cantilever effect which requires strength on the part of the user which is not possessed by many persons.
It is believed that the documents listed immediately below contain information which is or might be considered to be material to the examination of this patent application.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,974
U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,147
U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,055
U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,959
No representation or admission is made that any of the above-listed documents is part of the prior art, or that no more pertinent information exists.